Crumbl Cookies is a popular cookie chain that has exploded in popularity over the last few years. With over 600 locations across the United States, Crumbl offers a rotating weekly menu of creative and delicious cookie flavors. From Milk Chocolate Chip to Cornbread and even Hostess CupCake, Crumbl is known for its innovative takes on classic cookies. But with all of these unique flavor combinations, many Crumbl customers wonder – does Crumbl use boxed cake mixes like Duncan Hines in their recipes?
Crumbl’s Baking Process
According to Crumbl, all of their cookie recipes are made completely from scratch in their on-site kitchens. They do not use any pre-made doughs, batters or mixes. Crumbl states that they specifically do not use Duncan Hines or other boxed cake mix brands in their recipes. Instead, their bakers mix together their own proprietary blend of ingredients including butter, sugars, flour, eggs, flavorings and inclusions like chocolate chips by hand in each bakery.
Crumbl cookies are baked fresh in small batches throughout the day in each store location. The dough is portioned and rolled by hand before baking. Crumbl claims this allows them to closely monitor quality and consistency compared to mass industrial production. They say baking in-house maximizes freshness and flavor.
Reasons Crumbl Does Not Use Duncan Hines
There are a few main reasons why Crumbl avoids using pre-made mixes like Duncan Hines:
- Customization – Crumbl wants the flexibility to develop unique flavor profiles and adjustments not limited by commercial mixes.
- Freshness – Baking cookies in-store maximizes freshness and softness.
- Quality control – On-site baking allows close monitoring of each batch.
- Unique flavors – Crumbl specializes in innovative flavors that require custom recipes.
- Cost – Homemade recipes allow better control over ingredient costs.
Crumbl Cookie Flavor Examples
Here are some examples of popular Crumbl cookie flavors that demonstrate their use of custom recipes rather than commercial mixes:
Milk Chocolate Chip
Crumbl’s Milk Chocolate Chip cookie uses chunks of Callebaut chocolate and a housemade dough. It does not use pre-made chocolate chip cookie mix.
Cornbread
The cornbread cookie is made with Crumbl’s own blend of cornmeal, molasses, brown sugar and spices. It does not use a pre-made cornbread or cake mix.
S’mores
The s’mores cookie contains homemade graham cracker dough, marshmallow topping and chunks of Hershey’s chocolate. It is not made from a boxed s’mores or graham cracker cake mix.
Cookies n’ Cream
Crumbl’s cookies n’ cream cookie dough and Oreo topping are both made in-house. It does not use Duncan Hines or other commercial white cake mix.
Ingredient Sourcing
While Crumbl does not use ready-made mixes, they do source some branded ingredients like chocolate chips and Oreos from national suppliers. Some of Crumbl’s other ingredient sources include:
- Butter – Local dairy providers and European-style butter
- Flour – General Mills
- Sugar – Domino Sugar
- Eggs – Local farms
- Molasses – Brer Rabbit
- Chocolate – Callebaut, Hershey’s
Crumbl says sourcing quality ingredients helps achieve the best flavor in their cookies from scratch. Their recipe developers experiment with different ingredients to create optimal cookie doughs and batters.
Crumbl Copycat Recipes
While Crumbl keeps their official recipes confidential, fans have created copycat versions of Crumbl cookie recipes online. Some copycat recipes do appear to use Duncan Hines cake mix as a shortcut to replicate Crumbl’s unique flavors at home. However, Crumbl has confirmed these copycat recipes are not representative of their actual in-store baking procedures and do not produce the same products.
A few examples of Crumbl copycat recipes that use Duncan Hines mixes include:
- Funfetti – white cake mix with sprinkles
- Cookies n’ Cream – white cake mix with Oreos
- S’mores – graham cracker cake mix with marshmallows
While using boxed cake mixes may be an easy way to imitate Crumbl cookies at home, the well-known bakery insists all their cookies are made totally from scratch with no commercial mixes like Duncan Hines involved.
Crumbl’s Baking Process Recap
To recap, Crumbl Cookies does not use pre-made doughs, batters or cake mixes like Duncan Hines in their recipes. All cookies are baked fresh in-store daily using Crumbl’s own proprietary scratch recipes. Their recipe developers specially craft each weekly cookie flavor using quality ingredients sourced from trusted vendors. While home bakers may use cake mix shortcuts to recreate Crumbl’s signature cookies, the actual bakeries rely on their own customized recipes to deliver fresh, delicious cookies to their loyal fans.
Conclusion
Based on Crumbl’s statements about their baking procedures and the need for customized recipes, it is highly unlikely that they use commercial cake mixes like Duncan Hines in their stores. The use of boxed mixes would undermine their emphasis on fresh baked quality, unique flavors and cost control. While Duncan Hines makes an appearance in some Crumbl copycat recipes online, the popular cookie company insists their products are made completely from scratch in-house. So the verdict is Crumbl does not depend on Duncan Hines, instead choosing to create their own signature recipes from the ground up.